Let one start by saying that no other pop star-related event could have possibly been more important than the release of Madonna’s Confessions II on Friday, July 3rd. And yet, out of nowhere, that day and weekend suddenly made themselves known as the moment Taylor Swift chose to have her “fairy-tale” wedding (as if that phrase can really be used to describe anything about Madison Square Garden). Very suspicious indeed. Not to mention super Republican of her to make a whole “thing” about getting married on Fourth of July weekend. But then, since she obviously sees herself as “American royalty” (a.k.a Miss Americana) now that she has her “prince” in Travis Kelce, this date selection tracks.
Of course, one might chalk it up to merely “coincidence,” but, considering people as “insider” in the music industry as Taylor Swift are well-versed in/made privy to information regarding the album release dates of others, it wouldn’t be a reach to say that she knew Confessions II was coming out on July 3rd in the midst of making her wedding plans. Not that “bowing to” Madonna and letting that weekend be solely about her is something that Swift would ever consider. Hell, she didn’t even consider bowing literally to Céline Dion when she presented her with the award for Album of the Year for Midnights at the 2024 Grammys. Instead, she ignored her as she treated her like little more than the hired help, taking the award from her while not even making eye contact, instead focused on Lana Del Rey, who she had dragged up on the stage with her after beating her in the category, for which Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd was also a contender.
Indeed, there’s even a moment where one can see Dion trying to say something congratulatory to her, only for Swift to not even notice. Certainly, it becomes apparent that even Dion herself can’t believe how hard she—an icon and legend—is being ignored by someone who genuinely presumes themselves to be as iconic and legendary behind that faux modesty. So no, one wouldn’t put it past Swift to remind that all eyes were still really on her and what she was doing the weekend of Confessions II’s release, even if it wasn’t related to a music release. By the same token, she is that self-centered, tone deaf and clueless when it comes to not being “aware” of how choosing this particular date might come across to those paying attention. To those who are quite understanding of the weight of Confessions II’s release, which marks Madonna’s first studio album in a whopping seven years.
As for Dion (the recording artist Madonna once joked that her father prefers [musically, anyway] to her), who opted to release her second single of the year, “Bonjour, Pardon, Merci,” on July 3rd (or July 4th, since the single dropped at midnight), there feels like less of a “maliciousness” or “look at me” vibe to her decision. After all, it’s a song in French that talks about resilience and uniting with others through love. “Esoteric” by today’s current tastes and standards. Even though they’re certainly tastes and standards that Madonna herself espouses. And that frequently shine through on Confessions II. So yes, Dion gets much more of a pass for releasing “Bonjour, Pardon, Merci” on the same day as Madonna’s album because 1) it doesn’t feel as “flexing” as what Swift did and 2) it has the kind of message of positivity that Madonna gets hard for.
This in contrast to Beyoncé, a fellow “look at me” kind of diva who oddly chose July 4th to randomly unleash “Morning Dew (DONK),” a previously unreleased song from her 2006 album, B’Day (which will be “reintroduced” as a twentieth anniversary reissue on September 4th, none other than Beyoncé’s forty-fifth birthday [so yes, a milestone]). As if there were anything “patriotic” about “waxing poetic” on seeing Jay-Z’s cum shot in the morning (“Give me that mornin’ dew/You know that I want it/I want you moanin’ every mornin’”). And, even if she’s just talking about her own morning-time “wetness,” well, it’s still metaphorically masturbatory and ultimately has no place impinging on Confessions II weekend. Surely, of all people, Beyoncé ought to know better, having even honored Madonna with a “Queens Remix” of “Break My Soul” back in 2022.
But no, her desire to be “seen” on Fourth of July weekend (for, like Swift, she has some very Republican tendencies with regard to obsessing over this “holiday”) ultimately overtook her (nonexistent) sense of decorum and deference. But not worse than Swift, who shut down a key artery of Midtown in a way that smacked of what Dua Lipa did for her Sicilian wedding in Bagheria. Because what do the lives of the “little people” matter when one is trying to create the “perfect” wedding via the vast amounts of money they have to do so?
And so, of all these three pop chanteuses, the only truly worthy “opponent” to come out of the woodwork and attempt to vaguely steal Madonna’s thunder is Céline Dion. For it is in her “quiet” release that she proves the more “class act” of the trio. Though, of course, that’s no surprise. She speaks fluent French, after all (on a related side note, Madonna also tries her best to speak some French on the Confessions II track, “My Sins Are My Savior” featuring Stromae).
But, in the end, it was no matter. For while some might argue that none of the three abovementioned singers share Madonna’s audience anyway, it didn’t stop M from securing the top two positions on the U.S. iTunes Top Albums chart, with the standard edition of the album placing at number one, and the Icon Edition (with one more bonus track called “Hot Sauce” on it) placing at number two. So sure, Britney Spears might have once “sweetly” told the media at a press conference, “There’s room for all of us” when it came to the amount of pop girls in the industry, every “main girl” in music knows there can only be one number one. And on the weekend of July 3rd, despite the best attempts of certain other femmes, Madonna was just that.
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